Fitness was never my problem. Or was it?

I started working out in my early 20’s with boot camp style classes and fell in love with the pain and the sweat.

I was drawn to bootcamps, spinning, orange theory, and CrossFit for that reason. I loved the feeling of being literally dead after a workout. I also associated that feeling with it being BETTER.

A little intensity is not a bad thing but after years and years of abusing that and making intense fitness my MO, my body no longer tolerates that style of workout today. I could not see it then but burn out was inevitable, because it's rarely sustainable (or effective) to workout like this all the time. My body is a testament to that.

Idk who needs to hear this (me ten years ago that's who) but you don't have to break a sweat to have an impactful workout. Sweating is not a measure of a "good" workout, and not sweating doesn't mean your workout wasn't good enough.

It may feel good, and I'm not saying it's bad to sweat, but it isn't an indication of whether or not the workout itself was effective. Too often I see people resort back to the "hard sweaty punishing" style of workouts when they want to "get back on track."

All or nothing behavior gets you nowhere FAST. In fact it will draw you further away from your ultimate goal. I was ALL IN ALL THE TIME on exercise, and I thought that was a good thing. I thought I didn’t need help with my fitness, I had that part covered, I loved fitness, loved to sweat, love love love…

But my “all in” behavior was just as bad as someone who was all out. Extremes don’t work. Not long term anyway. Leaning into less intensity and basic strength training was a game changer for me. I found balance, which translated to consistency, which meant I was closer to my actual goal of having more muscle and less fat. I was working out like my goal was to just break a sweat.

Simple effective strength training, even just at home with dumbbells, is going to make you stronger over time, help you build muscle, and create a space where fat loss is possible because you aren’t stressing your body out everyday with so much intensity. (and maybe or maybe not break a sweat)

If your goal is to get sweaty, then a hard punishing workout is effective at getting you sweaty. If your goal is to lose body fat and gain muscle, then basic strength training (as little as 30 minutes a few times a week!) is going to be far more impactful.

Join my inner circle to gain access to simple, impactful, effective strength training, for any level! Check out the details here.